Santa Barbara Shows Danger When Only the Criminally-Minded Have Guns

The heinous attacks in Santa Barbara that left three dead from knife wounds and three dead from bullet wounds have led to numerous calls for more gun control but little discussion of a larger problem – namely, the danger that comes when only the criminally-minded have guns.

As Breitbart reported, Senators Richard Blumenthal (D-CT) and Dianne Feinstein (D-CA) have already pushed more gun control and/or criticized the NRA for opposing gun control, Representative Peter King (R-NY) has called for extending background checks, Gabby Giffords and Mark Kelly have called for Congress to show “immediate action” in enacting gun control, and CA state assembly members Nancy Skinner (D-15) and Das Williams (D-37) have announced they will be introducing new gun control measures to increase the categories of people from whom the state can confiscate firearms.

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All of these recommendations will have the same effect – they will reduce the number of guns in the hands of law-abiding citizens, thus giving the criminally-minded a greater chance of carrying out their evil deeds with impunity, as Elliot Rodger did in Santa Barbara.

Moreover, the talk of more gun control creates a climate that discourages gun ownership.

Far from this, our Founding Fathers wanted the American people to be armed, and the 2nd Amendment protections on the right to keep and bear and arms are proof of this.

Rodger killed three people with a knife “in his residence.” What if one of them had had a gun in the apartment that could have been used for self-defense?

After that he drove to some locations – got out of his car and walked to others – in order to shoot other victims. What if someone he walked past or walked up to had had a gun carried for self-defense – a gun with which to shut Rodger down before he fully carried out his evil intentions?

The response to Santa Barbara-type attacks should not be more gun control. It should not be more restrictions on law-abiding citizens but a reversion to the mindset of our Founding Fathers, who believed an armed citizenry was “necessary to the security of a free State.”